


You At My Side

by an0ther_dreamer



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fanmix, M/M, Picspam, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-18 17:11:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11879052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/an0ther_dreamer/pseuds/an0ther_dreamer
Summary: How swiftly we choose itThe sacred simplicityOf you at my sideA Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes fanmix; half songs written before 1944 and half modern music.





	You At My Side

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War.

’Til the End of the Line: Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes

Steven Grant Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes; fast friends since childhood, the Smithsonian would later describe them as “inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield.” The first time we see Bucky he is efficiently chasing off a bully who was beating Steve up in an alley. He does this with the air of someone who has done this so many times that they have a routine down. When Steve’s mother passes away in 1936 (leaving him an orphan) Bucky basically asks Steve to move in with him.   
  
**Bucky:**  We can put the couch cushions on the floor like when we were kids. It’ll be fun. All you gotta do is shine my shoes, maybe take out the trash.   
**Steve:** Thank you, Buck, but I can get by on my own.   
**Bucky:**  The thing is, you don’t have to.   
_[Bucky clasps Steve on the shoulder]_    
**Bucky:**  I’m with you till the end of the line, pal.   
  
But then 1942 rolls around and Sargent Barnes ships out to England to join the war effort. Steve and Bucky have this parting exchange:   
  
**Bucky:** Don’t do anything stupid until I get back.   
**Steve:** How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.   
**Bucky:** You’re a punk.   
_[He walks back towards Steve and hugs him goodbye]_  
**Steve:**  Jerk. Be careful.  _[As Bucky is walking away]_ Don’t win the war 'til I get there!  
_[Bucky salutes him]_  
  
Steve is then caught trying to fraudulently enlist and Dr. Erskine picks him to be a part of Project Rebirth, a secret "super-soldier" experiment. It is successful. When the project is discontinued following Dr. Erskine’s assassination Steve goes on a propaganda tour with the USO as Captain America. While touring Italy Steve find out that most of Bucky’s unit were killed or captured in the battle of Rosano. Steve runs to Colonel Phillips to find out if Bucky has been declared KIA. Phillips thinks he recognizes the name from the condolence letters he had to sign. But Steve decides to walk through thirty miles of enemy territory on a one man rescue mission to make sure.   
  
SSR Agent Peggy Carter convinces him to accept her help to get him closer. Steve parachutes out of Howard Stark’s plane, infiltrates the HYDRA base and frees all the POWs there.   
  
But Bucky’s not with them. Steve finally finds him, strapped to a table repeating his name, rank, and serial number. Then it’s a race to get out of the factory before it completely blows up. Bucky makes it across a beam over the inferno of the factory below just before the beam gives way. Steve is trapped on the other side. Steve tries to get Bucky to go on without him, but Bucky refuses to leave him behind. Both of them are willing to die for each other. They make it out. When they get back to camp with the other POWs Bucky leads the cheering for Captain America.   
  
Later, Steve forms the Howling Commandos and asks Bucky to be a part of it:   
  
**Bucky:** _[About the Howling Commandos]_ See, told you. They’re all idiots.   
**Steve:** How ’bout you? You ready to follow Captain America into the jaws of death?   
**Bucky:** Hell, no! The little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight. I’m following him. But you’re keeping the outfit, right?   
**Me:** _[Internally]_ For sexy reasons?! (Look, I know this was probably Very Manly Ribbing. And yet.)   
**Steve:** You know what? It’s kind of growing on me.   
**Me:** He’s going to give him a private show.  _[Lana Del Rey’s[Yayo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vanDiHG8WgM) starts playing seven decades before it’s written.] _  
  
Back in the actual movie, the Howling Commandos go on a montage of missions together. Bucky and Steve have each other’s back through them all. Then they are sent on a mission to intercept a train carrying a lead scientist for HYDRA through the Alps. (The scientist, Armin Zola, was the one who tortured and experimented on Bucky when he was captured at Rosano.) They use a zip wire to board the train and fight the HYDRA soldiers upon it. The skirmish leaves Bucky clinging to a damaged rail on the side of the train. Steve begs Bucky to hold on as he inches closer to him and tries to grab his hand. Then the rail snaps. Steve watches in horror as his best friend disappears into the icy chasm below.   
  
The next time we see Steve he is sitting in the bombed-out shell of the London pub where he asked Bucky to join the Howling Commandos. He is failing to get drunk due to his enhanced healing abilities. His eyes are red and swollen from crying. Peggy tries to comfort him by saying that Bucky’s death wasn’t his fault, but he doesn’t believe her. He says that he won’t stop now until all of HYDRA is dead or captured. This is a big change from the beginning of the film when he said, “I don’t want to kill anybody. I just don’t like bullies.” Steve is going to avenge Bucky; no matter what.   
  
Steve goes on what is basically a suicide mission to stop the Johann Schmidt and HYDRA. He crashes Johann Schmidt’s plane into the Arctic Ocean, saving the Eastern Seaboard from the bombs on-board. He goes willingly to his death. But he doesn’t die. Steve is preserved in the ice for 67 years before he is found, defrosted and awakened in 2012. He spends the next two years trying to adjust to the times and fighting alongside the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. He tries to adjust to the fact that everyone he loves is either dead or unable to remember him. He goes on as best he can but he still visits the Smithsonian to gaze longingly at Bucky’s memorial and the film reels of them together.   
  
Then Steve discovers that HYDRA is not as vanquished as he thought. They have infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and send their assassin, The Winter Soldier, to clean up loose ends. During a fight on a bridge Steve knocks off the Winter Soldier’s mask and when his opponent turns to face him again, Steve falters and says “Bucky?”   
  
The Winter Soldier responds with “Who the hell is Bucky?”, but he is also visibly shaken. That one word from Steve has broken through decades of torture and brainwashing. He’s starting to remember. (Some of the things he remembers are Zola telling him that “the procedure has already started” as his metal arm is attached without anesthesia and to “put him on ice” as he is cryogenically frozen while still conscious.)   
  
“The man on the bridge, who was he? I knew him.” The head of HYDRA, Alexander Pierce, tries to convince Bucky that by completing the mission and killing Steve he would be saving the world. Bucky’s only response is, “But I knew him.” Pierce orders that Bucky be “wiped” for his next mission. Bucky is resigned when he bites down on a plastic bit, is strapped into a nightmare torture chair and electroshocked.   
  
The next time Steve and Bucky meet, Bucky has indeed been “wiped”. Steve doesn’t want to fight him, but people will die if he doesn’t. When Steve has completed his mission and the Helicarrier is on fire and falling out of the sky, he tries to get through to Bucky again.   
  
_[Steve helps Bucky out from under some fallen rubble]_  
**Steve:**  You know me.   
_[Bucky punches Steve in anger]_  
**Bucky:** No, I don’t!   
**Steve:**  Bucky, you’ve known me your whole life.   
_[Bucky hits Steve but Steve chooses not to fight back]_  
**Steve:**  Your name is James Buchanan Barnes.   
_[Bucky hits Steve again]_  
**Bucky:**  Shut up!   
_[Steve takes off his mask]_  
**Steve:**  I’m not gonna fight you.  _[He drops his shield out of the Helicarrier]_  You’re my friend.   
_[Bucky pushes Steve to the ground]_  
**Bucky:**  You’re my mission.   
_[Bucky mercilessly punches Steve repeatedly across the face]_  
**Bucky:**  You’re my mission!   
**Steve:**  Then finish it.   
_[Bucky hesitates, holding his fist up]_  
**Steve:**  ’Cause I’m with you ’til the end of the line.   
  
Bucky stares at him; he recognizes the promise he made to Steve so many years ago. Then the bottom of the Helicarrier collapses, sending Steve down into the Potomac River below. Bucky drags an unconscious Steve out of the water and onto the shore. Bucky makes sure that Steve is breathing and then he turns and walks away. Bucky goes on the run from HYDRA and the government and tries to piece together his memory. Steve makes finding him again his one goal.   
  
In _Captain America: Civil War_ Bucky is framed for bombing a diplomatic meeting in Vienna. Steve then proceeds to very publicly break International Law and turns his back on half of his friends in order to protect Bucky. He chooses Bucky over everything else. Bucky decides to voluntarily go back into a cryogenic sleep until someone can find a way to deprogram his HYDRA brainwashing. He goes back into the ice and Steve watches over him. 

The Mix  
  
Half songs written before 1944 and half modern music. 

 

 

 

 

  
**Me and My Shadow by Frank Sinatra & Sammy Davis Jr **  
Like the wallpaper sticks to the wall   
Like the seashore clings to the sea   
Like you'll never get rid of your shadow   
Frank, you'll never get rid of me 

Let all the others fight and fuss   
Whatever happens, we've got us 

****

**I Can't Give You Anything But Love by Helen Forrest**  
I can't give you anything but love, baby   
That's the only thing I've plenty of, baby   
Dream a while, scheme a while   
We're sure to find

Happiness and I guess   
All those things you've always pined for 

****

**They Can't Take That Away from Me by Fred Astaire**    
The way your smile just beams   
The way you sing off key   
The way you haunt my dreams   
No, no they can't take that away from me 

****

**You Always Hurt The One You Love by The Mills Brothers**  
You always hurt the one you love   
The one you shouldn't hurt at all   
You always take the sweetest rose   
And crush it till the petals fall 

You always break the kindest heart   
With a hasty word you can't recall, so   
If I broke your heart last night   
It's because I love you most of all 

****

**I’ll Be Seeing You by Bing Crosby**  
I'll be seeing you in every lovely summer's day   
In everything that's light and gay   
I'll always think of you that way

I'll find you in the mornin' sun   
And when the night is new   
I'll be looking at the moon   
But I’ll be seeing you 

****

**Frozen Oceans by Shiny Toy Guns**  
Ten thousand miles apart   
A frozen ocean joins our hearts   
I can't wait to meet you when   
The frozen waves meet ocean floors   
You'll be standing on the shore  
I can't wait to meet you then 

****

**When You Were Young by The Killers**  
You sit there in your heartache   
Waiting on some beautiful boy to   
To save your from your old ways   
You play forgiveness   
Watch it now, here he comes 

He doesn't look a thing like Jesus   
But he talks like a gentlemen   
Like you imagined when you were young 

****

**You Were A Kindness by The National**  
You were a kindness when I was a stranger   
But I wouldn't ask for what I didn't need   
Everything's weird and we're always in danger   
Why would you shatter somebody like me? 

It doesn't work that way   
Wanting not to want you won't make it so   
It doesn't work that way   
Don't leave me here alone 

****

**Stay With You by The Goo Goo Dolls**  
I'll stay with you   
The walls will fall before we do   
So take my hand now   
We'll run forever  
I can feel the storm inside you  
I'll stay with you 

****

**Eric’s Song by Vienna Teng**  
So we just hold on fast   
Acknowledge the past   
As lessons exquisitely crafted   
Painstakingly drafted   
To carve us as instruments   
That play the music of life   
For we don't realize   
Our faith in the prize   
Unless it's been somehow elusive   
How swiftly we choose it   
The sacred simplicity   
Of you at my side

 

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